Irony
by WastefulReverie
Summary: In an ironic twist of fate, Valerie ends up reenacting a story she knows far too well... but as the opposite role. She finally understands what Phantom had meant all those times, that the ghost dog's rampage hadn't been his fault.


**Based off one of the danphanwritingprompts on Tumblr! "Valerie finally understands what Phantom means by the ghost dog was an accident when she accidentally destroys a classmate's life via a ghost cat."**

* * *

Valerie Gray did not believe in karma. The idea that there was some kind of intricate force of fate making sure that bad people got what they deserved was so pointlessly absurd, she couldn't muster any faith in it. After all, she knew plenty of awful people who _never_ got what was coming to them. Like Paulina Sanchez in seventh grade, when she ridiculed Valerie for getting her period for the first time during Val's _own_ birthday swim party_._ In the three years since that incident, Paulina received nothing but blessings and good luck for being a stuck-up, petty, entitled brat. Karma couldn't possibly exist.

She did, however, believe in irony.

To fully understand this story, she would probably have to go back to last year to thoroughly explain the circumstances...

At the beginning of Valerie's Freshman year, she was a member of Casper High's elite clique, the A-List. Back then, she was popular, rich, and naive to hardship – but she was _happy_. Until one day, a rotten ghost named Phantom unleashed a fiendish ghost hound upon her. He and that awful dog destroyed everything! Her father lost his job, they lost their mansion, and she lost her social reputation within a span of days!

Valerie immediately craved revenge, and as if someone had answered her prayers, an anonymous benefactor provided her with the means to retaliate. So she became a ghost hunter, intending to capture and destroy the villains that had stolen her happiness. Also, realizing that she couldn't lean upon her wealth, she devoted herself to her studies, got a part-time job, and... swore off any distractions – for their protection and hers. Along the way, she also grew into her role as the Red Huntress, going out of her way to not only fight the malicious _Phantom_ but also to protect Amity Park from other threats.

Maybe she was a better person now that she wasn't chained to her reliance on wealth... but she still abhorred Phantom for what he had done. Sure, she relinquished her role as the rich brat, but her father lost everything he had ever worked towards. His college degree? Worthless! The years he spent creating his own security business? Wasted! And it was all Phantom's fault that her dad was reduced to a simpleton security guard! She could manage this lifestyle... but her dad didn't deserve it. She was doing this for him – getting revenge for _him_. (Or so she told herself.)

Though, everything changed one day. It was during that weird time in the semester where finals weren't really close enough to stress over, but there was still a palpable amount of pressure to unhinge anyone who relatively cared about their education. Valerie was averaging about four hours of sleep and couldn't afford to apportion any of her salary for coffee or other caffeine supplements. She was hanging onto her sanity by the skin of her teeth, balancing two AP classes, three normal courses, earning minimum wage, and spending her free time battling ghosts.

Okay yeah, she was really freaking _stressed_.

At least ghost fighting meant that she could blow off some steam. Shooting guns, punching things, flying really fast... at least that last one never got old. Sometimes she even got to relax by going up to tall buildings and just watching the skyline. Those moments were always peaceful... the world stretched out below her in a picturesque scene, rolling hills evaporating into the horizon and twinkling reflections from other buildings.

That particular night, on top of the Raven-Aerie Hotel (Amity's _only_ five-star lodging) Valerie laid with her board by her side, her feet dangling off the edge of the roof. A pleasant autumn wind tousled her hair, freeing her from the boisterous presence of other people...

"..._mmree__**ow**_," something hissed softly behind her. Startled, she immediately lowered her visor and stumbled to her feet, simultaneously fumbling for a weapon and assessing her surroundings. Her heartbeat was off-rhythm and she internally chastised herself for being caught off-guard. (_moronic, idiotic, stupid, foolish, agh!_)

At her feet, an amorphous mass of green fur shimmered into existence. Valerie froze, petrified at the specter's short proximity; it was close enough that she could feel it's icy aura through her suit. She hadn't been this physically close to a ghost since she had been handcuffed to _him_ in the Ghost Zone. Something within her clammed up, refusing to budge. (_what am I doing there's a freaking ghost here nearly on me and what am I doing what am I why am I _frozen)

The thing at her feet, instead of attacking her, nuzzled her. It seemed to vibrate against her, with a familiar sort of softness... _a cat. _

A _ghost_ cat. It was short-haired, a little chubby, and had two-toned green stripes littered across its body. Its eyes were an otherworldly red... but unlike most ghosts Valerie encountered, they held no malevolence. Like that, most of her fear dissipated.

Many moments too late, her ghost detector alarm _finally_ went off – awakening Valerie from her trance. She stepped back, attempting to distance herself from the ghost cat. Though, somehow the small spirit had managed to curl itself around her leg and was content on staying there. It purred some more, basking in her lively warmth.

Even though this was a ghost, Valerie couldn't suppress her inner cat lover; that was just _too_ cute. Her next action was sort of stupid, considering that this was an undead creature with unknown abilities. But before she knew what she was doing, Valerie scooped the cat off of her leg and held it firmly in her arms, securely pressing it against her chest. It was wispy and light, feeling like an icy cloud. It wasn't uncomfortable as she would have assumed, and it seemed to equally enjoy her embrace.

Valerie hadn't met many benevolent animal ghosts, but she had come across some every blue moon or so. She supposed that this happened to be one of her lucky days; thankfully this cat was tame and wasn't looking for trouble.

"Aren't you just _cute_?" she pet the cat gently. "I can't believe you scared me for a moment there..."

The cat gave a light "mew" in response and Valerie giggled. "_Adorable_. For a ghost, anyway," she added quieter. She spent a few more minutes petting the ethereal feline, looking past the green fur and alien glow until she noticed a thin, black band around its neck. Curious, she cautiously inspected the band and found what she was looking for: a nametag. Thankfully, the cat's light illuminated its own tag and she was able to make out the name 'Salem'.

Valerie was about ninety percent certain that Salem was a female name. It was definitely a pretty name, fit for a pretty kitty. "Aw, aren't you a good girl, Salem?"

Salem stiffened in Valerie's arms. The ghost elicited a sharp hiss, before flying out of the huntress's grip and landing five feet away. Valerie knew then, that saying the cat's name had been a mistake because apparently, Salem didn't agree that her name was pretty.

In less than five seconds, Salem grew from a normal sized cat into a six-foot-tall feline that resembled a cross between a house-cat and leopard – complete with radioactive green fur. She bared her fangs at Valerie, before slipping into intangibility and diving into the building below... into the hotel.

Realizing what had just happened, Valerie made a mad a frenzy to grab her board. Salem had just multiplied tenfold in size and was about to trash the nicest hotel in Amity Park – and it was Valerie's responsibility to stop her.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a roof entrance into the hotel... so that didn't leave very many options to get inside. Going through the lobby entrance would be too risky (and tedious), and there weren't any visible fire-escapes... so that left Valerie only a few options. She would have to crash into the hotel through a window in order to stop a giant ghost cat from destroying everything.

Terrified out of her mind, Valerie took a deep breath and kicked off the rooftop. She was the Red Huntress – she would do what was necessary to fulfill her duty to the city. In a flourish of speed, Valerie flew down, down, _down_ to about the fifth story found a target. With one of her blasters, Valerie shot the window she wanted to enter the building through and broke the glass. Slowly, Valerie piloted her board through the mess of shards from the window and started looking for the ghost cat.

Hopefully, she could resolve things before it was too late.

* * *

Kwan Liu hated being the only one of his friends that didn't have a car. Instead, he had to walk to his Mom's work after football practice and wait there until her shift was over. They lived in a private estate just outside of Amity Park so unfortunately, he couldn't just walk home – he had to wait on his _Mommy_ to drive him. He was sixteen-years-old for crying out loud, that was just downright pathetic!

At least his Mom worked somewhere cool, unlike Dash's family who were bankers. The Raven-Aerie Hotel was the classiest hotel in Amity Park, with a whopping fifty stories! Sure, some hotel wasn't the greatest place at first glance, but it had all the coolest new technology and really good food. Since his Mom worked as... as... (crap, he forgot her job position again) as one of the higher up people, he basically got free reign of the place!

Today though, Mom was pissed at him for failing that Chemistry test so she kept him on a short leash. He was apparently 'forbidden' from sneaking out the kitchen and if she found out he went to the arcade, he would be grounded for _life_. Instead, he had to quietly sit in one of the stupid ballrooms and do his stupid homework.

"-so sit _there_!" she grabbed a chair for him to sit in, near a corner of the room, "You will quietly do your homework or so help me if you get _another_ F on a test your Friday night hangouts with Dash are gone!"

"But-" Kwan protested.

"No buts!" his Mom put her foot down. "I have to get back to work, so you better stay where you are. If you even leave that chair for anything besides the bathroom, there will be consequences. Everything on that side of the room," she gestured to tables set up with various knickknacks, "is going to be sold in the auction tomorrow. It's all _highly _expensive. If anything is sabotaged, I could get fired, do you understand?"

Kwan groaned, "Yes, Mom."

"Good. Now behave!" she turned on her heels and left Kwan to his homework. The door to the ballroom shut with a resounding THUD and he was alone.

Honestly, Kwan did try on his homework for the first fifteen minutes, but by the time he got to the questions about naming chemical compounds he just quit. Instead, he ended up spamming the A-List chat with memes and playing Fruit Ninja.

After killing about twenty minutes on his phone, Kwan noticed a faint rumbling noise from somewhere. _Crap_. It had to be one of those cleaning ladies' carts, so that meant he had to pretend to be doing something. He didn't think the cleaning ladies would rat him out to his mom, but she had eyes _everywhere_ – Kwan could never be sure.

Kwan quickly grabbed his Chemistry homework and pencil and pretended like he was working on one of the questions. He dismissed the elevating rumbling sound until it was so loud that it _couldn't_ be one of the cleaning carts. Suspiciously, Kwan looked up – and the ceiling exploded. Or, well he thought it did.

A gigantic, green ghost cheetah thing had phased through the ceiling, bringing some debris with it when it had gone intangible. Kwan's heart jumped into his throat, staying there and preventing him from breathing a full breath. Its ghastly expression was feral and _vengeful_, easily one of the most terrifying ghosts Kwan had seen (which were many, since he attended Casper High). Through his fear, he hazily noted that there was something red stuck on the cat, on it's back like some kind of horserider.

And then the red thing moved, flailing about while trying to hold onto the monstrous feline. _And oh, God,_ Kwan realized, _that's not a red thing, that's a red lady. _The Red Huntress, nicknamed by the media as an unpredictable vigilante inferior to their hero, Phantom.

"Bad – _cat_!" she screamed, balling her fists into its fur, trying to hold on. "I want you to-" she cut off as the cat ceased it's flight and landed evenly on the floor, "…n't destroy everything! GAAH!"

Kwan whimpered, pressing himself further into the corner. Had she just said she wanted the cat to... destroy everything?

The cat tried shaking the Red Huntress off its back, but she managed to hold on firmly. The cat grew even more irritable and tried rolling on the floor to get rid of the huntress, but somehow she managed to hold onto the cat's collar to avoid being crushed.

"I thought we were friends!" she accused, maneuvering around the cat while still maintaining contact. She mumbled quieter to herself, "Now where's my containment device?"

She was back on the cat's back again, who was still trying to throw her off. Searching through her belt, the huntress drew out what looked like a taser. Even though the huntress's face was concealed, Kwan imagined that she was smirking. Without much hesitation, she prodded the taser into the ghost's fur, causing the specter to fall to the floor.

In a matter of seconds, the cat released an earsplitting shriek, the sound tearing through the entire ballroom with enough force to decimate its immediate surroundings. The soundwaves alone were visible to the naked eye, green rings emitting from the cat's throat and bouncing around the ballroom, destroying everything in its path. Kwan observed in horror, keeping himself out of the line of fire, as the tables holding the valuable auction paraphernalia were torn apart.

Antique sets of silverware, velvety paintings, dull pocket watches, a rickety type-writer, a case of unique coins, and many other rarities – they were all absorbed in the cat's screams of anguish. Some of the prized objects left remnants of themselves, while others (like the paintings) were dissolved completely in the torrent of sonic energy. It was unsettling, to know that the sole power of sound could have such an effect on material objects.

Through the cat's screams, the Red Huntress continued to hold onto its back. Kwan deduced that she must have some kind of noise canceling thing in her helmet thingy since she seemed to only be slightly deterred by the severe noise. Hazily, Kwan recalled her previous command to 'destroy everything'... had the huntress intended to do this?

His ears were ringing now and there was a soft pounding somewhere beneath his temples. But finally, the ghost ceased its wretched screaming; the taser had weakened the creature to a point where it couldn't even express pain. Defeated, the six-foot-tall ghost cat melted into a regular sized housecat, bring the Red Huntress down to the floor as it shrunk in size.

"Ugh," she moaned, hitting the floor hard. "I think I might be deaf."

The ghost cat was mostly incapacitated now, but in its meek kitten form, it hissed at her.

"No one asked you," she retorted smartly. She fumbled with her belt again and pulled out a thermos this time – different from the one Phantom so famously carried, but with a similar design. She pointed the lunchware at her target and the cat was swiftly sucked into its confines.

Still thinking she was alone, the huntress sighed to herself, "Well, that one wasn't _so_ hard. Can't believe I triggered her, though..."

Kwan revealed himself. He was still in shock after all that had occurred. It had still not sunk in that all the auction items were destroyed, nor that present state of the ballroom was just less than _obliterated_. He walked out of his place in the corner, "What did you _do_?"

She jumped. "I – uh!" she held a gun to his face, before subsequently dropping her weapon. "Kwan? What – I mean, what are you doing here citizen? Have you been hurt?"

The fact that she knew his name failed to register. Instead, his mind was still reeling over everything else. Furiously, he filled the space between them and gestured to the wreckage around them. "You destroyed everything! I'm going to get in so much trouble! And it's your fault!"

Her mask was the epitome of apathy – all he could see was the vague silhouette of eyes through her visor, seemingly lacking any emotion. She surveyed her surroundings. "Oh, ouch. That _is_ a lot of damage..."

She was detached, mildly disconnected from the havoc that she had inflicted. _She doesn't even care_, Kwan realized. _She doesn't even freaking care_. That revelation alone caused him to snap.

"'Lot of damage'?" he mocked. "Well _durh_, smartass! _You_ did this, and what the hell am I supposed to do about it! That auction stuff was _thousands_ of dollars!" He shoved her shoulder. "You and your stupid ghost cat ruined everything!"

"Woah, woah," she recovered from his shove and put a hand on her hips. "'_My_ ghost cat'? That thing wasn't mine! I was just stopping it from causing more damage! If I hadn't neutralized it here, it could've taken down this entire building! I _saved_ you!"

"You didn't do _crap_," he seethed. "You commanded that cat to-

"Look, if I hadn't been here that cat would be flying around this place destroying things anyway. Hurting _people_. I detained it, I stopped it. Therefore, I saved you from it. Simple as that. I mean, I didn't know it had sonic powers! I would've been a lot more careful if I'd known."

"That doesn't change the fact that if you hadn't been here, the auction stuff wouldn't be destroyed!" he argued. "Don't you get that my Mom could lose her job over this!"

The Red Huntress stilled, like as if Kwan had doused her in a bucket of cold water. Seconds later, she recomposed herself and her tone placated. "Look, I know you're angry but that's not my cat. And I'm sorry about whatever I destroyed, I really didn't mean to cause that much damage. It was an accident, so are we good?"

"What, you think you can just _apologize_ for this?"

She faltered. "I uh..." and at that moment, her ghost detection software chimed again. Behind her mask, he could see panicked eyes. "-gotta go!"

She moved to get on her board, and Kwan reached out before she could leave, "Wait! We're not-" she raised into the air, evading his grip "-_done_." She flew through the ballroom doors, leaving Kwan alone with her mess. "Crap!"

And as if fate were watching him, his mom walked in less than a minute later with two of her executives. _Well_, _I'm dead. Next thing you know I'll be in the Ghost Zone._

* * *

Word traveled quickly around Casper High. Two days after _the incident_ almost everyone had heard about how Kwan's mom had been fired and sued for the damages to the hotel and the irreplaceable auction items. They had tried to explain that Kwan hadn't been responsible, that the damage was the work of a nefarious ghost and a local vigilante – but the wealthy hotel owners didn't live in Amity Park and refused to believe in the paranormal. Alas, due to their overwhelming debt, Kwan's family had less than a week to move out of their estate and into an apartment complex two blocks from Valerie's own apartment in Elmerton.

The rumor mill was eating up Kwan's draw of misfortune. As a result of his poverty, the A-Listers had no choice but to kick him out in order to maintain appearances. Thus, he was socially reduced to loner football jock. Sure, he still had his teammates, but outside of sports, none of his old friends spared him a second glance.

Valerie never felt more guilty.

It had just been an accident, but... Kwan was _her_. Well, not literally. But his entire situation was parallel to hers. Except this time... she had been the perpetrator. She had been the one to destroy someone's life. Kwan blamed her just as much as she had blamed Phantom. In fact, he was repeating her history – lately, he had teamed up with Wes to try to reveal the Red Huntress's identity and advocate for her arrest. He was going down the same lonely road of divergence she was traveling and... and...

She had always assumed that Phantom had been lying when he claimed that he hadn't meant to destroy her life. He had said that the ghost dog hadn't belonged to him, but she ignored him. She had called him deceitful ghost _scum_. After all, anyone with the power to destroy her life surely did that on purpose, right?

But... now that she had accidentally done the same thing, did that mean that maybe Phantom _hadn't_ tried to destroy her life? Was it all just a big screw up like she had accidentally instigated? Was the ghost dog the same as Salem, and was Phantom the same as... her? Just a kid trying to keep everyone safe and leaving a mess in the absence of danger. Had Phantom felt the same way she does now after he demolished her hopes and dreams? Had he felt this same guilt?

She didn't know, and she didn't like not knowing. It would be so much easier to just believe that Phantom was an _evil_ thing that took everything away from her because he was _evil_ but... she had been blind for so long. She didn't know what his intentions were anymore. Was he good, was he evil? Was she even good anymore?

Her thoughts were muddled and erratic – a mess of emotions clouded in confusing layers of insecurity and regret. They looped in tangles of questions, seesawing between the huntress and the child within her. What was up, what was down? Was she even the same as Kwan, or was she just superimposing herself because she was over-dramatic? Was she perceiving Phantom with emotions because she was projecting him onto her, or did he actually have feelings?

She was getting nowhere. She needed to clear her head before she tried to sort things out.

So, that day after a painful shift at the Nasty Burger, Valerie donned her gear for the first time in a week and went flying. It was dusk, so there was only a sliver of sunlight remaining in the sky. But that didn't stop Valerie – flying at night wasn't easy, but she'd done it so many times it was practically second nature. She crossed the downtown airspace about three times before she got winded (somewhat literally) and decided to take a break on top of a rooftop. She was a little paranoid since the last time she had done this the _incident_ had happened but she had to prove to herself that it wasn't going to happen again.

She lowered her board onto the roof of one of Amity's news stations and promptly hopped off. She sat cross-legged on the concrete and tried to meditate by staring over the ledge at the city lights. After about six good minutes of trying to ease her mind into focusing on the hazy lights from a nearby office building, Valerie gave up. She laid straight on her back, took off her helmet, and gazed directly into the darkness of the sky.

Unlike the bustle of the streets below, the sky held no movement. And the longer she looked at it, its texture became more defined as she could gradually start to make out stars. Feeling mesmerized, she reached a hand up into the air, as if she were trying to capture one of the distant spheres of light...

A faint glow reflected off her hand. Awakened from her trance, Valerie instinctively grabbed her ghost detector. This couldn't be happening again, not on another rooftop. Not again not again not-

Once she stood up the glow disappeared. Not so easily fooled, in one hand she brandished a weapon while in the other she toyed with her detector. The little screen said that there were no ghosts nearby... but it was on the fritz – defective. She needed Vlad to repair it soon...

"I know you're here," she told it. Just by the temperature, she could _feel_ that the ghost was still lingering. "It'd be easier if you could just show yourself."

There was a sigh. It sounded directionless, disembodied – she hated it when they used that effect on their voice. "Promise you won't shoot me?" Phantom's voice crackled.

She involuntarily flinched. Phantom. Why did it have to be _him_? Why did he have to torment her _now_ of all times? Why did he appear just when she was trying her absolute hardest _not_ to think about him and how similar their messes were? Why did he show up just when she was on the brink of judging whether the destruction at Axion was his fault?

Wait, actually... He showed up while she was still trying to figure out whether he was guilty or not. This meeting could actually resolve some of her emotional conflicts. She could ask him _anything_. And if she didn't like the answer, she could simply just shoot him while he was off-guard...

She lowered her gun, "I... won't."

He entered the visible spectrum, floating about two feet to her left. She watched him carefully as he slowly lowered himself onto the roof, opting to sit instead of hovering. Valerie wracked her brain and couldn't remember an instance where Phantom didn't prefer to float unless he was injured. Now, he was sitting next to Valerie, someone who usually tried to kill him. He wasn't acting like he normally did... this was _odd_.

But then again, she wasn't attacking him either – so they were both in foreign territory.

Neither of them spoke for a good twenty seconds. The tension in the air was nearly suffocating and Valerie wondered if Phantom could even _feel_ it. Alarms started going off in her head and eventually, she couldn't take the threatening silence.

When Valerie finally made up her mind, Phantom seemed to reach the same decision.

She started, "Why are-" while Phantom simultaneously spoke, "Uh, so I-"

At each other's words, both of them cut off abruptly. Valerie felt her face grow hot and turned a blind eye to Phantom's uncharacteristic green blush. He laughed nervously, "Sorry, uh... you can talk first."

"No, uh, I don't really have anything to say," she found herself fascinated the texture of the concrete. "You go ahead."

Phantom rubbed the back of his neck. This entire encounter was so strange that Valerie couldn't help but wonder if she was dreaming. His mannerisms mirrored any regular anxious teenage boy that it was completely uncanny.

"I heard about what happened," he sighed. She couldn't think quick enough to conceal her surprise. Did he mean – "with Kwan," he added.

"I – uh-" _crap_. He could he know about that? It wasn't on the news or anything. From what she knew, it was only going around by word of mouth... and since he was a ghost, he had probably found out through eavesdropping. _Okay, that makes sense_, she decided.

"I know you and I don't get along well," Phantom continued awkwardly. "But... I figured that since you probably need to talk about this... I'm probably the best person that could understand. So what I'm saying is, do you want to talk about it with me?"

This was not the direction she expected him to take. Of course, yeah – she wanted some answers from Phantom about things. But she never expected that he would come to her of free will. That was nothing like the Phantom she knew... but did she really even know Phantom? Heck, she didn't know herself these days.

Sure, maybe Phantom was gutsy enough to prey on her emotions while she was weak, an evil ploy to emotionally destroy her. But on the other hand, maybe he was considerate enough to let her vent to him because he _cared._ And she was desperate for answers, so of course, she was going to take the risk. After all, she was still armed.

"Uh... alright," she nodded. She figured before she launched into some kind of long-winded interrogation, she should at least clarify what Phantom had overheard. "So how much do you know about what happened with Kwan?"

He shrugged, positioning his legs flat-out in front of him, propping his elbows on his thighs and resting his head in his hands. "I heard about it from someone at Casper High," he said carefully, "and from what I know, you basically fought a ghost cat at Raven-Aerie, the ghost destroyed some expensive stuff, Kwan's Mom got fired, and his family lost their home. Now Kwan's going around swearing revenge against you and conspiring with Wes." He paused. "Do you want any soda?"

She zoned out. "What?" That came out of nowhere.

"I'm kind of thirsty and was wondering if you wanted some."

He was offering her beverages now? Less than a week ago she was shooting at him with intent to kill, but now he was just casually sitting with her on a roof, acting like they were two normal kids who weren't mortal enemies. Not to mention, logically he shouldn't even be able to _drink_ soda.

She voiced her skepticism, "But ghosts can't get thirsty."

He gave her a pointed look. "You ever been one?"

She groaned. If she wanted answers, she might as well play along instead of instigating an argument. "Fine," she surrendered. "As long as you aren't going to steal any, I'll take some."

"Oh, nah, I have some," he assured her, "not that I would steal anything, anyways."

"Debatable," she muttered.

He scoffed, "Whatever." And with that, Phantom closed his eyes, visibly focusing on something. Valerie was taken aback when a white halo encircled his waist, giving off a bright burst of light. It rose around Phantom until a faded purple backpack became visible on his shoulders. The ring of light died off, only leaving the backpack behind.

"How did you... how'd you make that appear?" she asked, letting curiosity get the best of her.

He shrugged again, "It's just one of my powers, I guess. It only works with clothes and stuff, but I can transfer stuff over to my..." he struggled with the right words. "I can make clothes and stuff go away to another form, and then move them to this form if I focus? It's something new, I just learned it."

"So you can basically store a bunch of clothes around you or something?" she was confused.

"Not really, but let's just go with that. It's complicated. I'm confusing myself."

Phantom took the backpack off and started rummaging through it. Valerie could glimpse notebooks and ghost hunting equipment, but one paper sticking out of his backpack caught her attention: a pink chemistry worksheet that Mr. Falluca had handed out for homework earlier.

Before she knew it, Valerie pointed it out. "That's my chemistry homework."

Phantom was still looking through the backpack for the sodas. "Huh?"

"That pink paper, it was today's chemistry homework," she explained slowly. "Why do _you_ have it?"

"Is that what it is? Chemistry?" his voice got a little tighter as if he was coming up with something on the spot. He didn't look up from the backpack. "Someone left it somewhere and I picked it up. I was gonna try to find them to give it to them instead of throwing it away."

That was logical enough... but there was still something else there. Something suspicious to suggest that he wasn't being truthful. But Valerie didn't pry. She still wanted to pry about more important things, and she couldn't do that if she scared him away with accusations.

"Aha!" he held up two cans of grape Fanta. "You like Fanta, right? It's the only soda I have 'cause I lost a bet and now this is the only soda I can drink for a month."

"I haven't drank Fanta since I was a kid, but it's alright," she said. She accepted the soda and popped it open. "But what kind of bet was it that you have to drink one soda for a month?"

"Eh, it's an inside joke with some friends. Fanta sounds like Phantom apparently? And to them it was really ironic I was drinking it, and then we started joking that it was cannibalism – yadda, yadda, yadda. And two weeks ago I lost a bet in this game called Doomed so they decided that this was my punishment." He froze, looking almost embarrassed. "_Anyway_, that's off topic."

Unsure how to respond, she took a sip of the soda. "Yeah, uh, I guess."

"So, the thing with Kwan?" he returned to their original discussion topic.

She flinched, "Yeah. _That_."

Phantom clearly sensed her discomfort, "If you don't want to talk anymore, we don't have-"

"I'm already talking with my enemy, I might as well ask some questions," Valerie decided.

"Okay," he said, quietly.

She took a deep breath, "Was it the same sort of situation for you? With that dog? I mean, I know what happened to Kwan and I is really similar. But... when you went to Axion, you weren't..."

"I wasn't trying to destroy everything, no," he confirmed, his voice more serious. "Like you, I was trying to stop Cujo from destroying everything. I was new to ghost hunting and had come across Cujo in the Casper High parking lot. At first, he was just a puppy until he grew and decided to go on a rampage at Axion. I followed him to try to stop him... and made myself look like the culprit."

"And you hadn't intended to leave that much destruction?" she asked.

"No, and I tried explaining... but you were always so mad. But it's not your fault since you had justified reasons to not believe me. I _am_ a ghost, after all."

"And are you guilty about it?" she whispered. "Do you regret it?"

"I've always felt bad about it. When it happened, I was just doing my best on sending Cujo to the Ghost Zone. I knew it was my fault and wanted to make up for it, but even then... I hadn't realized how bad it affected you until a while later when I found out about your job. Your job at the Nasty Burger, I mean."

"You know about that?" she asked. "How do you know where I work?"

"Uh... cause I've been there?" he answered cautiously. "You guys have good shakes."

"I think I woulda noticed _you_ at the register, ghost," she crossed her arms.

"Well maybe I went in disguise," he stuck out his tongue. "But, anyway, I _do_ regret what happened to you, Valerie. And honestly, I feel bad that you have to go through the same thing I did with Kwan. Though, don't get me wrong, I am kind of glad that you're listening to me for once."

"If all of this were true..." she decided, "I think I could forgive you. But... I still can't know if you are telling the truth or not. I mean, ghosts like to manipulate people. That's a fact. I just... there's still that time when you tried to kill me and destroyed my suit. And kidnapped the mayor, stole all that stuff, and tried to kill Danny Fenton in front of his parents."

He frowned, "When did I try to kill Danny? I mean, the thing with the mayor was a set-up by another ghost called Walker. He was overshadowing Mayor Montez to get back at me. Ask any ghost in Amity about him and they'll tell you about what a dick he is. And if you look back at the footage of when I stole that stuff, my eyes were red. I was being mind-controlled by an evil ringmaster, which totally sounds fake, but his arrest records are on the Internet."

"I don't know... I heard Mrs. Fenton talking about the thing with Danny, but I don't know much about it."

"Oh wait! That was the time with Amorpho. There was a shapeshifter that pretended to be me and then he got stuck as Mr. Lancer for a while and that was _really _weird-"

She choked, "_What_?"

Phantom laughed, "I know. And so then the time when I destroyed your suit was another misunderstanding. I knew that you weren't wearing it, so I didn't see any reason to hold back. After all, it was trying to kill me..."

"But how could you have known?" she asked. "What if you were wrong?"

"Well, I saw you fighting your own suit so I figured that you weren't inside it," he reasoned.

"Okay, that's fair," Valerie realized. "So I guess... you haven't done that much bad stuff after all, have you? You just have really sucky luck whenever it comes to being framed."

"Pretty much," he sighed, taking a drink of Fanta. "But that's life, isn't it?"

"Ironic for a ghost to say that," she deadpanned.

"My entire existence is irony," he said gravely. He managed to stay in character for ten seconds before he started laughing.

"How do you deal with it?" Valerie asked. "With everyone thinking that you're the bad guy?"

"Well, not everyone thinks that anymore, thankfully," he replied. "But for people like you and m – the Fentons... "I just kind of repress it, mostly. I feel bad about the bad stuff I've done, and when there's no way to make up for it, you just have to live with it. I know that's the not answer you want to hear about Kwan... it's the answer I don't want to tell you, but... I'm also just a kid. I also don't know what I'm doing."

"So even if I tried to explain to Kwan... do you think he'd believe me?" she asked.

"I mean, you didn't believe me until now," Phantom pointed out. "But you and Kwan are different people. There's no way to know, but given how angry he is... there's a big chance you're just going to make the situation worse by trying to make things better. From my experience."

Valerie paused... considering something. "What if I tell him as Valerie, his old friend, instead of as the Red Huntress?"

"Then there's a chance that he'll call the cops on you. He sees you, the Red Huntress, as a vigilante."

"But... he trusts Valerie."

He gave a defeated sigh, "Secret identities complicate everything, Valerie. Once people know about both versions of you, they may only see one version of you over the other. I've thought about telling people the truth about me, but... in the end, it's more of risk than anything. If you reveal the truth to Kwan, you may never be able to be the Red Huntress again because once people know... they won't let you live your life the way you did before," he mumbled. "Not to mention the judgment and stigma you'd face and the accusations and lies that come to light. And then everyone knows what sort of inhuman freak you are and you'll never be able to be an actual person, just a _ghost_-"

"Phantom," Valerie interrupted. He looked up from his rant and his eyes widened in realization.

"Oh my Ancients," he reentered reality. "I didn't mean any of that about you. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Are you okay?" she asked, kindling concern for her ex-enemy that she didn't know she had.

"Right now, yeah," Phantom nodded. "But generally, I'm just a mess."

"I feel that," she groaned. "But... do you have anything you want to talk about?"

He gulped, even though his can of Fanta was long dry. "Not really, no. Can we... just forget any of that happened?"

"Do you have another identity, Phantom?" she wondered. From what he had been saying, he understood her situation a little too much. That, and he was afraid of people finding out about his lies, lies that revealed that he was actually a ghost.

"I'm allowed to have secrets, aren't I?"

_That wasn't a no._

"Yeah, I suppose so." She figured that with all the pressure he carried, a few secrets weren't condemnable.

They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the lights of the city below. And before the moment could stretch too far into the night, he stood up. "It's getting late," he observed, "and at least one of us has school tomorrow."

"Yeah... that's true," she allowed. "So you're gonna go?"

"I should probably patrol before going to bed," he nodded. "That way you can go straight home."

"That'd be nice," she thanked him. "So uh... are we not enemies anymore?"

"I never tried to be your enemy, so if you're okay with me, then I guess we're not," he smiled.

"If I find out that you actually _are_ a backstabbing villain I will destroy you, don't get me wrong," she threatened.

"Oh, I'm looking forward to it," he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, until next time?" he held out his hand.

It took her a moment to realize that he was offering to shake hands. She was a little slow to react, but she refrained from shivering from his cold grip and shook. "Until next time."


End file.
